Surrender (6 page)

Jarek’s eyes burned into hers, and she watched his jaw clench, his muscles bunch. “You have no decision to make here, Kira. Destiny has decreed our joining, and it will take place with or without your consent. ’Tis only a matter of time.”

She laughed while her anger multiplied. “I will not allow anyone or anything to dictate to me.” She shoved her hands against his chest, but he didn’t move. “This is how it should have been. No games, Jarek. Since you are obviously not going to back down, we fight. The victor takes Timara.”

He snatched hold of the back of her neck, pulling her forward, and brought her lips close to his. “I don’t want to fight you, Kira.”

“I never figured you for a coward.”

His lips scorched a path down the side of her neck. “’Tis not cowardly to give in to what is meant to be, my sweet.” His hand dropped lower and cupped her mons through the thin fabric of her gown and panties. “’Tis wisdom in itself.”

Kira closed her eyes against the swell of feelings and emotions. How was it her enemy could turn her insides to liquid and reduce her analytical brain to melted ice?

“I do not want you anymore,” she lied, intent on extinguishing his desire even as her body began to melt into his.

Instead, he laughed against the swell of her breasts. “Lie if you must, but you will never convince me, or yourself, that you don’t want what I can do to you.”

Kira’s heart stuttered in her chest. Had her fury deserted her? Why could she not summon the ire she’d felt only moments before Jarek had joined her in the chamber? She tried to fight against his hands, his lips, but each movement only brought her closer to her own defeat. And soon, she didn’t want to fight anymore.

The incredible feel of his hands touching her skin overwhelmed her and sent shivers of delight dancing down her spine. His scent, a spicy combination of exotic spices and pure male, enveloped her, dragging her into a secret world where only the two of them existed.

Out of breath and practically begging for more, she arched her back, inviting further investigation, and his fingers obliged. Dipping inside the elastic of her panties, they dove into the wetness between her legs, lightly pinching the full petals.

Kira moaned and dug her nails into his biceps. Her pussy throbbed, aching from a combination of need and anticipation. Jarek massaged her clit with masterful skill, bringing her to the edge and then stopping until she squirmed. She felt her cream slipping out of her body, bathing his fingers, while she burned from the inside out.

“Jarek, please.” She could no more stop the words than she could her next breath.

His lips nuzzled her neck. “Please what, Kira?”

“You know what I want.”

“Then let me hear you ask for it.” He lightly nipped her earlobe with his teeth, and she felt the exquisite pain all the way down to her pussy. His fingers barely moved, tantalizing her even more.

“Please make me come,” she finally moaned, giving in to her own desires.

“As you wish, my queen.” The guttural sound of his voice fed her body’s urgency, and she began to move her hips, grinding her clit against his fingers. Her head fell to his chest, and Jarek increased the pressure, plucking and running the calloused pad of his thumb over the engorged flesh.

Breath stuttering in her throat, she felt the orgasm building, drawing her into the vortex of awaiting pleasure. “Oh. Oh.” Her fingers now bit into his arms as the heat intensified. She inhaled the scent of sex and her own muskiness.

“Just let it build,” Jarek instructed her, licking her neck, her ear, before moving his lips to hers.

The taste of his tongue, the press of his fingers over her clit, and the tightness of his arm holding her close sent her spiraling. The orgasm rocked her, and she cried out with both pleasure and surprise.

With a wave of his hand, Jarek disrobed them both, causing the cool air to kiss her skin. She moaned as he grasped her hips and lifted her until the V of her legs connected with the hardness of his cock. “I’m going to take you now, Kira, for all time, and this time, there will be no stopping.”

Eagerly, she reached for him, her fingers curling around the sheer strength of his shaft. Her fingertips traced the silky head before bringing the moisture to her lips.

Nostrils flaring, Jarek cursed below his breath and pushed her backwards. They tumbled to the bed, rolling and turning until Kira ended up on top of him. He grasped her ass and jerked her forward until his cock penetrated her tight sheath. Then, pushing upward, he drove into her until a groan broke from his lips.

Kira leaned down low enough for his lips to fasten around one nipple. She rode him hard and furious, demands bursting from her lips. Faster. Harder. Deeper.

Jarek rolled with her, taking her to her back. He pressed her ankles toward her shoulders and drove into her, pushing and pumping, until perspiration popped out on his forehead.

She clawed at the blankets beneath her, twisting and turning them until they knotted around her fingers. With each stroke, Jarek created electrical shocks within her mons until she caught her breath and held it, praying for mercy—or release.

When the dam broke, she bucked off the bed and screamed his name, while he slammed into her repeatedly until his own release snagged him in a breathtaking spiral.

“By the gods,” she whispered, flinging her head back against the mattress. Damp strands of her hair clung to her forehead and cheeks, and she draped one arm over her eyes while concentrating on breathing. She couldn’t remember ever losing her breath during sex.

Jarek moved off her, sliding down next to her on the bed. His hand splayed across her stomach, and he closed his eyes on a sigh.

Kira turned her head sideways and peeked at him from underneath her arm. She didn’t know what to say. Did she even need to say anything at all?

“Amazing,” Jarek finally murmured.

She relaxed somewhat. “I would have to agree.”

Jarek pulled her arm away from her face. “Now, do you doubt what you know to be true?”

She scowled at him and yanked her arm free. Pushing herself to a sitting position, she dragged her knees close to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “Do we have to talk about this now?”

Jarek’s scowl matched hers. “You’d rather keep denying the truth? Kira, this is much more than just destiny. You feel it as much as I do.”

The damning words were the truth, but she couldn’t admit it. Instead, she slipped off the bed and padded across the floor on bare feet. She felt Jarek’s eyes watching her every move as she bent to recover her gown. “I cannot join with you, Jarek, not as your queen. My father would kill you first.”

He sat up. “Are your father’s desires more important than your own?” Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he watched her step into her panties and drag them over her hips. “I understand this is confusing. I didn’t want to admit it at first, either, but you belong here. You belong with me.”

She dragged her hands through her tousled hair before turning to face him. “Stop saying that!” The words came out on a shout that made the portraits on the wall sway. She desperately needed air, space, time to think. Nothing made sense anymore, not her devotion to her father, her vow of vengeance, and certainly not her attraction to the man who was supposed to be her enemy.

Sliding off the bed, Jarek stood in front of her, towering over her, his body mere inches away from hers. How could she still want to touch him? Her fingers inched to sink into the softness of his hair, to clasp his head to her breast and beg him to suckle again. But outwardly, she remained calm, unmoved. It had to be this way. Her loyalty must remain with her father.

“We shall belong to one another.” The hum of his words made her pussy tingle, but she refused to bend, even though her willpower was rapidly fading.

“No. I’m not becoming your queen or anything else. I will, out of the kindness of my heart, allow you to remain here in Timara, and even share my bed time and again, but hear me well. I will not, under any circumstances, marry you.” The words tumbled out of her mouth in a rush, her emotions running high.

Couldn’t he understand that she needed him to back off? Her resolve was rapidly fading, and were she to lose her anger, she didn’t know if she could keep denying the truth behind his words.

“And if you’re pregnant?”

Her heart lurched in her breast. “Then I shall have a baby.”

His brows lowered, and he grabbed hold of her arm, yanking her into close contact with his naked body. “
We
shall have a baby,” he corrected.

“I do not require your assistance to raise a child, if, indeed, I do carry yours.”

“This isn’t about what you require, Kira.” The words came out through gritted teeth. “We belong together.”

She tried to pry his fingers away, but this time, he held fast. Their eyes met and held, clashing in an intimate duel. “Oh, really? Try to find me.”

Her essence faded, and she slipped into the mist. “You should never underestimate me, Jarek.” With a taunting chuckle, she left him to his fury, knowing it would only be a matter of time before they found one another again.

And she couldn’t say she didn’t want that very thing.

Chapter Five

Devlin trotted to keep up with Jarek’s long strides. “If she doesn’t want to be with you…” His voice trailed off the instant Jarek whipped around and came to a stop in the middle of the marbled hall.

“The decision is not hers to make. We have a duty to follow our destinies.”

“She believes in her own destiny.”

“She believes in taking control, ruling with an iron fist. She wants to be queen of Timara, but she doesn’t want to marry the king.” And why that thought bothered him so much, he didn’t know. Or maybe he just didn’t want to admit the truth. Perhaps Kira’s hatred was true, running too deep inside her to change.

Devlin bobbed his head in complete understanding. “It wasn’t too long ago, Jarek, that you had no interest in being with her.”

Trust his closest ally to bring that up. “What’s your point?”

The bony god shrugged. “Only that perhaps you have allowed your father’s parting words to color your judgment.”

Eyes narrowing, Jarek took a step forward, a threat in his words. “I know you’re not insinuating that I—”

“Jarek, look out!” Devlin’s warning gave Jarek just enough time to leap out of the way before the air split wide, and Kira landed feet first in the center of the marble hallway. Dressed all in black, with her hair licking at her waist, she looked like an avenging angel.

Her eyes hypnotized Jarek as she walked forward, a sword tucked against her shoulder. Eyes of the softest silver scanned him from top to bottom, lingering at the bulge between his thighs.

“’Tis a shame it had to come to this, Jarek. You were a great lover.”

Devlin coughed and looked away.

Jarek strolled toward her. “What is this all about, Kira?”

The sword swished through the air. “It’s about finishing what I started. Timara belongs to me. I’ve offered you the chance to remain as my lover, but you didn’t seem interested. Therefore, you leave me no choice but to eliminate you.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Jarek dared her with his eyes. He saw the desperation on her face and knew this was a challenge she needed, to reassure herself she was still in control. But he wouldn’t give it to her. It was best she learned that some things were bigger than either of them. “And if I refuse to fight you?”

Even as he spoke, Devlin stuffed a sword into his hand. “You should not refuse a challenge, Jarek. Our people will see it as a sign of weakness were they to learn of it.”

Jarek’s fingers closed around the heavy handle of the weapon, and he looked down at the engraving. His father’s sword. He couldn’t remember the last time Lamar had used it. The steel felt cool against his palm, and he raised it high. “Kira, you really do not want to do this.”

“Shut up and fight, King.” She sliced her way forward, wielding the sword like an expert fencer. “My father taught me how to use this. I thought you might want to know before I kill you.” She jabbed forward.

Jarek parried the thrust and countered it with his own blade. Metal clanked against metal. Kira’s foot kicked his midsection, and he stumbled backwards while she advanced, twisting and twirling the silver sword until it became a blur.

Jarek halted another swing in midair and leaped out of the way of an undercut. He ducked and rolled, coming to a crouch in time to prevent a nick to his ear.

Damnation, but the goddess could use a sword.
He knew by looking into her eyes he could not reason with her. The Fates’ decision terrified her, and she reacted in the only way she knew how, the way her father had raised her, with violence.

He jumped to his feet and came forward, taking the upper hand. He turned and rolled the sword until Kira backed away. He tried to flick her sword from her hand, but she counter-attacked, catching the top of the leather on his boot.

The slice annoyed him. “Kira, we need to end this, now, before someone gets hurt.”

“Don’t you mean before you get hurt?” she taunted.

He held his temper in check. “Your father wants you to kill me, doesn’t he? That’s what he’s been goading you to do. Do you know if you kill me, you’ll become like him?”

Kira tossed her hair over her shoulders and tipped her chin up. “I would be proud to take after my father.”

Jarek made a rude sound in the back of his throat. “Your father is a cold-blooded, ruthless killer. Has he told you about his late-night activities?” At her blank stare, he continued, “Didn’t think so. Your father takes a visit to the graveyard every night for a feast. Yes, you heard me correctly. On souls, Kira. He claims the souls of the dead so they can never rest in peace.”

“You lie!” she shouted and dove forward, thrusting and parrying until Jarek found himself against the stone wall.

Seeing the crazed look in her eyes, he made a decision. He dropped the sword. Devlin gave a shout of dismay while Kira smiled.

“That will be your last mistake, Jarek.” She drew back her sword and brought the tip to his throat. “Tell your father I said hello.” She pressed against the blade and a lone drop of blood trickled down the front of Jarek’s neck, but the sword moved no further.

Confusion clouded her eyes, and she frowned, trying to push the blade deeper against Jarek’s flesh.

He grasped the cool steel and forcibly lowered it. “You fight without truly knowing your opponent. Do you really think you’d’ve gotten into Timara without help?”

She took a step back, uncertainty dancing in her gaze.

“Kira.” Jarek pushed himself away from the wall. “You were brought here not to overtake our city, but to join with it. I didn’t understand your arrival at first, but the moment we joined, I knew. Your history, your future is here…as my queen.” He held out his hand. “You cannot fight destiny.”

She stared at his hand, but didn’t take it. “I will not join with you. I would sooner die first.”

Jarek shook his head slowly. “Then we have reached an impasse, for you cannot kill me, and I cannot kill you. The Fates will not allow such a tragedy. So do we exist in misery then?”

“My father will find a way to strip you of your immortality. He will kill you.”

Jarek watched the dismay twist her features as she backed away from him even further. “Your father cannot harm me any more than you can, Kira. Do you not think all of this has been planned? As my father told me, the Fates control our destinies. What they decree will be done. No god can fight it and win.”

Kira whipped her hands in front of her. “Then I shall never stop trying.”

When she disappeared, Devlin let out a long sigh of relief. “Don’t ever do that again.”

Jarek looked down into the upturned face of his friend. “What are you talking about?”

“I thought you were allowing her to kill you.”

“I was.”

Devlin gave a nervous laugh. “But you knew she couldn’t.”

Jarek clapped a hand on the god’s shoulder. “Actually, I didn’t.”

Devlin’s mouth worked. “You…you…could have been killed. You have no way of knowing if she already has the ability to strip away your immortality.”

“I will ascend when it is my time, Devlin, no sooner, no later.” He strolled down the hallway, pausing to add, “When Kira returns, make sure we are not disturbed.”

“What makes you so sure she’ll return? She seemed rather perturbed.”

Jarek grinned. “She’ll be back. Destiny can be a bitch.”

Kira absorbed her father’s anger, watched him spin around the room in an unstoppable whirlwind of fury. She waited for him to return to the ground, and when he finally settled his feet on the cracked stone beneath him, Set pinned his daughter with a gaze meant to destroy.

“You’re about to tell me how much I’ve disappointed you.”

His mouth worked. His eyes bulged, along with the vein near his left eye. For a long second, he didn’t speak, but when he finally managed to force the words past his clenched teeth, they spilled out in a burst of hatred and vulgar obscenities.

Kira stared at the man standing in front of her, uncertainty making her take a step backwards. She didn’t understand the change taking place within her father, but she knew she didn’t like it.

“Father, stop.” she shouted.

Set quieted abruptly, giving her a malevolent glare. “You have disappointed me.”

“I have lain with other men.”

He whipped forward to stand in front of her, and the air lifted the long strands of his red hair. “Do not speak.”

Her eyes widened. “You have never spoken to me in such a manner. What has gotten into you? Are you really that upset because I had sex with the king of Timara?”

Set’s temper boiled over, and he clasped a hand around Kira’s throat. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”

“Release her.” The command echoed off the walls of the alley where Set had summoned her, bouncing back and announcing Jarek’s arrival.

Set’s hand dropped, and he whirled. “Fool. I defeated you once, but this time, I will not allow my daughter to interfere with what must be done.”

Jarek walked into the dimly lit alley, the heels of his boots clicking against concrete. The leather pants accentuated his hard thighs, and Kira found herself focusing more on his muscles than on the conversation. She rubbed the spot on her neck where her father’s fingers had pinched her.

“Jarek, your presence is not required here. I can handle my father,” she quickly intervened.

Set whipped his hand back and slapped her across the face. The sheer brutality of the action caught Kira unawares. She staggered, her shoulder slamming into the brick wall behind her. Eyes glazed, she held her cheek and stared at her father. What had happened to him? He’d never harmed her before.

Jarek gave a low growl and leapt forward, feet extended.

As a cloud slid over the moon and thrust the small passage into darkness, Set struck, claws bared.

Kira couldn’t see the action, but she heard every grunt of pain, every slash of nails against skin. The fight littered the air with curses and shouts. Sparks shot from fingertips, and bodies slammed into walls.

Frustration compelled her to ascend into the air and blow a breath to scatter the clouds. As the moonlight filtered over the alley, both gods stood toe-to-toe, breathing heavily, eyes clouded with fury.

“I will not leave until I have killed you,” Set declared in a low, murderous voice.

“So be it,” Jarek responded.

This side of Set stunned Kira. What had happened to him to change him so? He’d never spoken to her in such a harsh manner before, had certainly never struck her. Now this violent side shook her faith in him. If he’d been hiding such rage from her, what else could he be hiding?

Whatever had changed him had also changed her. She didn’t trust him, and though the knowledge twisted her heart, she couldn’t deny her feelings.

Nausea welled in the pit of her stomach while tears stung her eyes. This god who she watched wasn’t the father she’d known for most of her life. Set had changed after she’d gone to Timara or maybe he hadn’t changed. Perhaps this was his true nature.

Could this side of Set be the real god? As much as she wanted the answer to be no, her instincts told her otherwise. The little things were starting to add up—his not wanting to bring her mother to Timara, Set’s determination to kill Jarek, his frequent bursts of anger, and now his treatment of her. They all combined to create a disturbing picture.

What she thought was a transformation was really a revealing.

And she desperately needed to get away from the man she’d called father.

She debated her next move, and when the two gods separated for a brief second, she dove in, snatched hold of Jarek’s collar, and disappeared, with Set’s curses ringing in the air.

Jarek’s eyes blazed, and his breaths came in short pants when he and Kira touched down inside the palace. He stormed to the end of his bed and came nose to nose with Kira.

“You had no right to do that,” he shouted.

Kira folded her arms and calmly accepted his anger. “What was I supposed to do? Should I have stood there and watched you kill my father?”

“That.” Jarek jabbed a finger toward the window. “That thing out there is not your father!”

Kira’s own temper spiked. “I don’t want to hear that.” As she spoke, fear clenched her heart as she silently agreed with Jarek.

He grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her even closer. She felt the heat of his breath and the rap of his heartbeat against her breast.

“You’re going to hear it anyway. It’s time, and I am tired of coddling you.”

Kira shoved her hands against his chest, but the steel band of his arms prevented her from going anywhere. She glared up at him, her jaw clenched. “You know nothing about my family. I will not listen to anything you have to say.”

“Set is a monster,” Jarek continued as if Kira had not spoken. “He has no love in his heart and most certainly feels no love for you. Has he told you about his sister?” He lifted an eyebrow and waited for her response, but Kira refused to speak. “What about his brother-in-law? He didn’t tell you how he killed him centuries ago out of jealousy?”

Jarek forced her back against the bed with his sheer physical presence. Kira sat on the edge of the mattress, every nerve in her body alit with fury. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. The stories about my stepfather and his sister, Isis, are just that, stories. Were they true, Isis would have taken revenge a long time ago.”

“Perhaps she has something Set does not…compassion.”

Kira shook her head. “It didn’t happen that way. My stepfather would have told me the truth.” Even as she said the words aloud, Kira knew them to be false. She wasn’t sure what was the truth and what wasn’t, but she was sure Set had hidden much more than just his true nature from her.

“You think so? So I suppose he never mentioned how he killed your mother’s first husband because he wanted your mother for himself?”

“Just stop.” Kira held up one hand, but Jarek wouldn’t stop talking.

“I imagine he told you that my father had something to do with the death of yours. Yes, I can see by your face that I’m right. I can only imagine what other little tidbits Set left out of your childhood.”

He walked toward the window and shoved open the curtain. “He wanted you, Kira. He knew you were meant to be my destiny, and the only way he could stop that and take Timara was to turn you against me.”